Wikipedia doesn’t have ads. Neither does the Wayback Machine (archive.org). And yet they have survived years, decades with millions of users visiting them.
How do they survive?
Isn’t ads the proverbial revenue model of capitalism?
Annoy the users with pop-up ads, banner ads, midroll ads, and just-anywhere-the-reader-looks ads.
That’s how the modern internet survives.
And yet, these amazing sites have survived despite how normalized the ads have become.
How did they do it?
Donations.
It’s crazy to think such large sites have survived with donations. Makes you question whether Adam Smith not accounting for self “less” interests of humans was a mistake?
These donations are not from big corporates to write off their charity spend either. Most donations are from common people like you and me using these platforms, who love these platforms for the work they’re doing, and want them to sustain.
Wikipedia raised $164M in FY2023. Majority of it came from regular people donating small amounts — with over 7.5 million donors giving an average donation of $11.38.
You can argue, Wikipedia is huge and can be considered an exception than the rule.
Fair enough.
Let’s get more niche.
Long back, I used to read fan fiction. Don’t ask me more.
The two biggest fanfiction platforms were and still are – FF.net (Fanfiction) and AO3 (Archive of Our Own).
FF.net is where I started reading fanfiction. AO3 back then was more about erotica, and still kinda is.
Over time, both have taken different directions.
FF.net went the ads model. Yup, banner ads, pop-up ads, wanna see the Sword of Gryffindor pierced through, here is an ad, through the basilisk.
AO3 followed the donations model. It raised $512K in FY2022 in donations. And most of the time, it raises far more than their projections.
Both different models, and yet, AO3 is where most readers go now. Despite FF.net being the largest platform for years, it’s business model has turned it’s users off and made them to go for AO3 instead. Why? Do I even need to spell it out? Better user experience.
There is one last diss with the ads model.
With ads, comes content restrictions. FF.net, in order to show ads, has to go through a purge, flush out lots of content that didnt meet the ad guidelines. And still removes content, albeit unsuccesfully, that aren’t meeting the ad guidelines.
AO3 doesn’t have this problem. They aren’t bound by ad exchanges dictating the terms of their content.
Of course, it’s a debatable topic. Some of the content on AO3 is questionable and can make anyone uncomfortable. But censorship is a slippery slope. Anything even remotely termed NSFW can get taken down. Ironic since a good chunk of fanfiction is, you know, wishful romance and erotica.
In short, amidst all the thriving ads model, these donations model examples makes a case for a better experience and a better space.
In a web ruled by ad dollars, donation-driven platforms prove that better experiences still have value—and people will pay for them.
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